Flight attendants at Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge have voted 99.7% in favour of strike action, their union confirmed, citing stalled contract negotiations on pay and working conditions.
The Air Canada component of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents more than 10,000 flight attendants, said the vote sends a strong message to the airline to return to the negotiating table with serious proposals.
“The company would rather drag their feet than negotiate on the things that matter to our members,” said Wesley Lesosky, president of the Air Canada component of CUPE. “Now, flight attendants have had a chance to weigh in and tell the company it’s time to get serious about negotiating.”
While the strike vote authorises potential job action, it does not mean a strike is imminent. The union said a legal strike could begin as early as August 16, 2025, if no agreement is reached.
The dispute centres around what the union describes as “poverty-level wages,” unpaid work, and outdated work rules. CUPE says flight attendants are not compensated for key duties such as safety checks, boarding procedures, and attending to emergencies.
“While the airline continues to slap junk fees on flyers and gouge the public, they’re also exploiting their own employees by severely underpaying flight attendants or refusing to pay them at all for safety-critical aspects of our jobs,” Lesosky said.
According to CUPE, entry-level flight attendants’ wages have increased by only $3 per hour over the past 25 years, far below the pace of inflation and wage growth in Canada.
The union argues that despite Air Canada’s strong financial performance in recent years, the airline has not offered fair compensation to its frontline crew.
Airline Economics has contacted Air Canada for comment.
This call for strike action at Air Canada follows a vote made by flight attendants at United Airlines in July, who rejected a tentative agreement for a new contract with the carrier, their union confirmed.
The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA said over 92% of the eligible voters cast a ballot, with 71% voting not to ratify the agreement. The agreement, which the union and United had reached in May, was estimated to result in a financial gain of 40% for the flight attendants in the first year of the new contract.